Flax

Flax, also known as common flax or line, is a flowering plant called Linum usitatissimum. It grows best in areas with mild temperatures, such as many parts of the world.

People grow flax for both its food and its fibers. The fibers from flax are used to make a special kind of cloth called linen. Linen has been used for many years to make soft and comfortable things like bed sheets, underclothes, and tablecloths. Flax also produces seeds called flaxseed or linseed, and from these seeds we get linseed oil, which has many uses.

Flax is a plant that only grows where people take care of it. Long ago, people took a wild plant called pale flax, known as Linum bienne, and began to grow it. In places like New Zealand, plants called "flax" are actually from a different group called Phormium, and they are not the same as the flax we are talking about here.

Names and etymology

The word 'flax' comes from old words used in Old English, such as fleax. Similar words are found in other old languages like Old Frisian and German. Another name for flax is 'line', also from Old English lín. This name is used in words like 'linen', which means cloth made from flax, and 'linseed', the seeds of the flax plant.

Description

Flax, also called common flax or line, is a type of plant that looks similar to other plants in its group. Unlike some of these plants, flax is an annual plant, meaning it grows, blooms, and dies in one year.

Flax plants can grow up to about 1.2 meters tall and have thin stems. Their leaves are a special green color, narrow, and about 2 to 4 centimeters long. The flowers of flax can be white, blue, yellow, or red and are about 15 to 25 millimeters across. After the flowers bloom, the plant produces a small, round, dry fruit containing several shiny brown seeds.

Flowers

Light-coloured flower

Capsules

Taxonomy

Flax was named by Carl Linnaeus in his book Species Plantarum in 1753.

Varieties

The flax plant has two types, according to Plants of the World Online. They are called Linum usitatissimum var. usitatissimum and Linum usitatissimum var. stenophyllum.

Cultivation

Flax grows best in places with moderate climates, like areas from the eastern Mediterranean to India. It was first grown by people in the Fertile Crescent. Flax likes deep, rich soils with lots of organic matter, but it does not grow well in heavy clays or very dry sandy soils. Farmers usually do not need many fertilizers or pesticides to grow flax. The plant can grow to be about 3 feet tall.

People have used flax for making cloth for thousands of years. The oldest known flax fibers were found in Georgia and are about 30,000 years old. Flax was also grown in Syria, Turkey, Switzerland, and Germany. In ancient Egypt, flax was very important. The Phoenicians traded Egyptian linen, and the Romans used it for their sails. Today, most of the world’s flax comes from France, especially the area of Normandy.

Uses

Flax is grown for its seeds, which can be ground into a meal or turned into linseed oil. People use this oil as a nutritional supplement and in many wood-finishing products. Flax is also grown as an ornamental plant in gardens. We can make a soft and strong fabric called linen from flax fibers.

Flax fibers are stronger than cotton fibers and are naturally smooth. For a long time, Europe and North America used flax to make clothes before cotton became popular. In the Canadian prairies, people grow flax for linseed oil. They use this oil in paints, varnishes, and products such as linoleum and printing inks.

The left-over part of flax seeds, called linseed meal, is used as food for livestock like fodder.

Flax seeds

Flax seeds come in brown and yellow types. Both are good for you and have important omega-3 fatty acids. We can press flax seeds to make linseed oil, an old oil used for eating and for painting and varnishing.

Culinary

Ground flax seed gives energy and has protein, fiber, and fat. Whole flax seeds stay fresh, but ground ones can go bad if left out. Keeping them in the fridge or in sealed containers helps them stay fresh.

Nutrition

Flax seeds have protein, fiber, B vitamins, and minerals. They have a lot of thiamine, magnesium, and phosphorus. They also have omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for health.

Health research

Eating flax seeds often may help with weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol. It might also help with inflammation in some people.

Linseed oil

Safety

Flax seed and its oil are safe for most people to eat. But like many foods, flax can cause allergies in some people.

Fodder

After we take the oil from flax seeds, the left-over meal can feed animals like cows, rabbits, and fish. We also give it to pigs and chickens, but less of it. This meal can help improve the quality of milk, eggs, and meat in some animals.

Flax fibers

Flax fiber comes from the stem of the flax plant. It is soft, shiny, and flexible, and stronger than cotton. We have used linen, a fabric made from flax fibers, for thousands of years. Priests in ancient Sumer wore it more than 4,000 years ago.

The best flax fibers make fine fabrics like damasks, lace, and sheets. Coarser fibers are used to make twine, rope, and even paper products like banknotes and tea bags.

People in England invented flax mills for spinning flaxen yarn in 1787. New ways of processing flax have made people interested in using it as an industrial fiber again.

Preparation for spinning

Before we can spin flax fibers into linen, we must separate them from the rest of the plant. The first step is retting, which lets the inner part of the stem rot away. Then, we break up the outer stem and scrape off the fibers. Finally, we pull the fibers through tools called heckles to take away any remaining bits of stem.

Retting flax

We can ret flax in different ways. We can do it in a pond, stream, or field. Pond retting is the fastest but can dirty the water. Stream retting takes longer but is less likely to dirty the water. Field retting takes the longest but makes the best fibers and causes the least pollution.

We can also ret flax in a container like a trash can. If we keep the water at the right temperature, the process can take just a few days. This process makes scum and an odor.

Dressing the flax

Dressing the flax means taking the outer stem off the fibers. It has three steps: breaking, scutching, and heckling. Breaking breaks up the stem. Scutching scrapes some of the stem off the fibers. Heckling pulls the fibers through combs to remove the last bits of stem.

Genetically modified flax contamination

In 2009, some Canadian flax was found to have a special type of flax called 'Triffid'. This flax was allowed in Canada and the U.S. for food and feed, but not in Europe. Because of this, Triffid was stopped from being used in 2010 and was never sold in Canada or the U.S. Stores removed Triffid, but tests showed it was still in some plants. This could have hurt future crops. To fix this, new seeds without Triffid were used for the 2014 crop. Labs now check for Triffid, looking for just one Triffid seed in every 10,000 seeds.

In culture

Flax has been important in history and culture. Ancient people in Norway wrote about flax on special marks made on tools. They also told stories about flax bringing good luck.

Today, flax is a symbol for Northern Ireland. It appears on important signs and money in the United Kingdom. In Belarus, flax is the national flower. In some old versions of the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty," the princess gets hurt with a piece of flax.